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i'll just try to answer the other questions you have as i don't have much weight in what i can say about thickness of spines. in my opinion, it really is more about the grind of the knife than the thickness. just so long as you get a good thickness on the spine, and a great grind you're pretty close to what people would want.

4) Is a convex geometry good for a kitchen knife?

convex is awesome. with japanese knives they convex one side (generally the right side for righties) and leave the opposite side (left) generally flat. this creates a problem for lefties, like myself, coz when they make knives, the food you cut sticks on the left side and makes the knife steer (depends on how the knife is ground) because of that assymetric grind and edge. the japanese do usually a steeper angle on the left and a wider angle on the right that's around 70/30 most of the time when they sharpen so that too complicates things for lefties. some j makers also do a 60/40, 80/20, 90/10, but that depends on the application and what kind of knife is made.

some even do a 50/50 bevel (but some still say it's pretty much comes out as 60/40) but still sharpens it to a 70/30 edge, which is okay for lefties coz we can just sharpen out that edge and make it more usable for us.

it really is up to you as you are the maker. =D

5) Any other tips for a new maker?

folks here love a french chef's knife profile like a sabatier or even old vintage american profiles like forgecraft and ontario cutlery. so you might wanna get some inpiration off of them.

oh and we hate finger guards like the ones on sabs. some folks just grind that off when they buy vintage. messes with the sharpening process. we also love rounded spines (at the very least the part where a person would normally do a pinch grip) and choils.

another couple things

we love our carbon steels as much as stainless or even probably more so. depends on who you talk to. and we like higher hardness on our knives like 60RC and up. as for handles, it's a very complicated subject so you'll just have to come up with one the general public would like. just see what kinda handles on here we like on the knives we post about and see what you would wanna make.

=D

of course, everything i've said is just opinion and probably just a general consensus. you're still the maker, it still ultimately falls to you how YOUR knife will look and perform.

maybe when you make a prototype you'd wanna do a passaround and see what they think to further refine it. nothing like actual hands on experience.

Hi guys, I'm starting to get into making knives and had a few questions.

1) Is 1095 a good steel for chef's and paring knives?

2) What thickness of steel should I get for a chef's knife? A paring knife?

3) Would I rough out the bevels leaving about 1mm of steel before sending the knife out for HT?

4) Is a convex geometry good for a kitchen knife?

5) Any other tips for a new maker?

I cut a few designs out of cardboard and I'll try to post them on here so you guys can look and critic them.

1095 is pretty good. For a paring though, you might want to consider a stainless because they're often used and left there for a bit. Your situation could be different, so it's completely your judgment.

I think .125 and .09 are perfect to start out on, and then you can adjust after some testing. .125 is a little thick for a paring, but fine for a chefs.

1mm is a little on the thin side. 2mm is pretty safe, but just consider that a lot of makers will do HT before any bevel grinding is done - warps are hard to deal with, but hardened steel is not as bad as you may think if using a good grinder with sharp belts.

Convex is usually preferred around here. More of us would describe the common grind type to be a "blended bevel" though.